A well known method for obtaining natural extracts, oleoresins, colorants, aromas and flavors starting from spices, aromatic herbs, alfalfa, flowers with pigments, carrots, green and red peppers, tomatoes, spinach and other vegetables, is based on extraction by means of using organic solvents (hexane, petroleum ether, dichloromethane and other organochlorine solvents, methyl, ethyl, isopropyl alcohols, etc.). High temperatures and other actions are generated in some phases of this extraction process which induce oxidation and the partial or complete destruction of basic components.
In addition, it is virtually impossible to completely remove the residual amounts of the solvents used in obtaining the extracts, oleoresins, colorants, aromas and flavors.
Furthermore, it is generally required that the product to be extracted be dehydrated, whereby since dehydration of the starting product, spices, aromatic herbs, alfalfa, flowers with pigments, carrots, green and red peppers, tomatoes, spinach and other vegetables used must be performed by means of heat and/or air, part of their flavoring, aromatizing or colorant components also oxidize and they are destroyed, with the subsequent reduction of quality.
Patent ES 162248 relates to method for preparing powder or fine-grain conservable products with a high vitamins C content, and for preparing paprika rich in said vitamins, starting from ripe fruits, and comprising the separation of the skin, veins and seeds, preparation of a juice or gruel in a neutral gas atmosphere and reduction to powder by grinding in a heated chamber, mixing said powder with the material resulting from milling the skins, veins and seeds.
Patent ES 476456 discloses a method for directly obtaining sterilized paprika powder or flakes by means of a continuous process by concentration, starting from pepper as a raw material.
Patent ES 482035 describes a method for obtaining paprika from fresh fruit without dehydration by heat, yielding a product suitable for marketing as paprika or as a raw material for oleoresin extraction.
Patent ES 8400228 relates to a method for increasing the value of the inner content of the crude paprika product, which comprises harvesting ripe fruit, separating the stems, grinding the product, centrifuging and/or pressing and drying the product with hot air.
Patent ES 2080685 relates to a method for the non-destructive separation of the chloroplast pigments and the glycerin fraction in vegetable oils and oleoresins which comprises subjecting oleoresin samples to contact with N,N-dialkylamides and performing various decanting steps, separating the hypophases and clustering the epiphases containing pigments for filtering and washing through a sodium sulfate anhydride bed.
However, the methods described in said patents do not solve the oxidation and color loss problems and they do not explain how to directly obtain paprika oleoresin.
Nor do said methods of the state of the art allow concentrating the pigments in the paprika obtained.